We find inspiration in surprising places if we choose to stop, listen, and reflect. This past week I heard a provocative singer-songwriter introduce a song with:

“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.”

The words come from a Zen koan and is offered for a metaphorical lesson about the importance of reflection and authentic questioning. The road, in this case, is your journey through life. “The Buddha” symbolizes truth or enlightenment that you believe you have attained. You believe you have found the final answers.

Do not get comfortable. Do not become complacent. Keep asking authentic questions, listening to what you hear, and ask more questions.

In No Barrier: Unlocking the Zen Koan, Thomas Cleary shares translations of forty-eight koans. You will find more metaphors that connect to the figurative expression “kill the Buddha” and the powerful lesson above. For example:

“A ship cannot moor where the water is shallow.” (53)

o We must deepen our thought process to understand. Cleary says “whichever perspective you are absorbed in, it is crucial to be able to go back and forth freely in order to attain both ultimate liberation and objective compassion. Either perspective can kill you or bring you to life.”

“Does sound come to the ear, or does the ear go to sound?” (82)

o Do you hear the message that is being delivered or do you project and hear what you want to hear?

“If you only know how to open your mouth, you won’t realize when you’re trapped in words.” (141)

o Cleary reminds us that “we wind up entrapped in our own points of view. We may think we are talking about realities when all we are doing is talking about what we think.”

Community building requires conversation—true dialogue. Unfortunately, we often become trapped in collective monologues. Everyone talking or interrupting but not much listening. People speaking what they want to hear. Ignoring all else. Those behaviors will kill meaningful collaboration.

For information about and to order my most recent book, Stories about Teaching, Learning, and Resilience: No Need to be an Island, click here. A few colleges and one state-wide agency have adopted it for training and coaching purposes. Contact me if you and your team are interested in doing the same.

The paperback price on Amazon is now $14.99 and the Kindle version stands at $5.99. Consider it for a faculty orientation or a mentoring program. The accompanying videos would serve to stimulate community-building conversations at the beginning of a meeting.